"Drill Daddy Drill" is a

dirty blues Dirty blues encompasses forms of blues music that deal with socially taboo and obscene subjects, often referring to sexual acts and drug use. Due to the sometimes graphic subject matter, such music was often banned from radio and only available on ...

song, recorded by

Dorothy Ellis Dorothy Ellis (September 24, 1935 – September 1, 2018) was an American blues singer and songwriter, who was inducted into the Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame in 2011, having been an inductee of the Oklahoma Blues Hall of Fame in 2004. She was known a ...

and released as a single on

Federal Records Federal Records was an American record label founded in 1950 as a subsidiary of Syd Nathan's King Records and based in Cincinnati, Ohio. It was run by famed record producer Ralph Bass and was mainly devoted to Rhythm & Blues releases. The comp ...

in April 1952. The

B-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph records and cassettes; these terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or record compan ...

of the record was "Must Go Out and Play". Both songs were penned by Ravon Darnell (who, using his real name Rick Darnell, co-wrote the

blues standard Blues standards are blues songs that have attained a high level of recognition due to having been widely performed and recorded. They represent the best known and most interpreted blues songs that are seen as standing the test of time. Blues s ...

, "

The Thrill Is Gone "The Thrill Is Gone" is a slow minor-key blues song written by West Coast blues musician Roy Hawkins and Rick Darnell in 1951. Hawkins's recording of the song reached number six in the Billboard R&B chart in 1951. In 1970, "The Thrill Is Gon ...

") and Mario Delagarde. Delagarde was the regular double bass player with

Johnny Otis Johnny Otis (born Ioannis Alexandres Veliotes; December 28, 1921 – January 17, 2012) was an American singer, musician, composer, bandleader, record producer, and talent scout. He was a seminal influence on American R&B and rock and roll. He ...

and His Orchestra.

History

The song was recorded on January 16, 1952, in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

, by Ellis with backing by

and His Orchestra. The personnel involved were Dorothy Ellis (vocal), Lee Graves (trumpet),

George Washington George Washington (February 22, 1732, 1799) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Appointed by the Continental Congress as commander of th ...

(trombone), Rene Bloch (alto saxophone),

Ben Webster Benjamin Francis Webster (March 27, 1909 – September 20, 1973) was an American jazz tenor saxophonist. Career Early life and career A native of Kansas City, Missouri, he studied violin, learned how to play blues on the piano from ...

(tenor saxophone), Lorenzo Holderness (tenor saxophone), Walter Henry (baritone saxophone), Devonia Williams (piano), Pete Lewis (guitar), Mario Delagarde (double bass) and Leard Bell (drums). Webster supplied his tenor saxophone playing to the track, which was described as "excellent but ordinary". The release of the single was listed in ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

s issue dated May 3, 1952. ''

Cash Box ''Cashbox'', also known as ''Cash Box'', was an American music industry trade magazine, originally published weekly from July 1942 to November 1996. Ten years after its dissolution, it was revived and continues as ''Cashbox Magazine'', an online ...

'' in its May 17, 1952, periodical, was more forthcoming with its short review noting the main track as "A hustling bounce novelty with double entendre lyrics is treated to a forceful reading by thrush Dorothy Ellis". At the date of the recording, Ellis was just over 16 years and three months old.

Wording

The song's lyrics were liberally sprinkled with the usage of

double entendre A double entendre (plural double entendres) is a figure of speech or a particular way of wording that is devised to have a double meaning, of which one is typically obvious, whereas the other often conveys a message that would be too socially ...

s. The verb 'drill' was used in either of its various descriptive terms as "produce (a hole) in something by or as if by boring with a drill", and "meaning to have sex from a male perspective". This is exemplified in the song's lyric, "When one well goes dry, we'll use another hole".

Worth

A copy of the original vinyl single sold in May 2017 for $204.37.

Compilation album re-releases

The track was included in the compilation album, ''He Got Out His Big Ten Inch: Risque R&B and Rude Blues'', released in 2005 by Indigo Records. It was also featured on another compilation, ''Eat to the Beat: The Dirtiest of the Dirty Blues'' (2006,

Bear Family Records Bear Family Records is a Germany-based independent record label, that specializes in reissues of archival material, ranging from country music to 1950s rock and roll to old German movie soundtracks. History The label has been in existence since ...

), among many other such compilations.

References

{{Reflist

External links

Song lyricsRecording @ YouTube
1952 songs 1952 singles Blues songs Rhythm and blues songs Federal Records singles American songs